O’Toole, Fighting Illini bracing for Wisconsin

Published
12:00 am CDT, Friday, October 10, 2014

Illinois, which dropped a heartbreaking 38-27 decision to Purdue last week, saw its Big 10 record dip to 0-2. But the Illini weren’t the only conference school to lose last Saturday. This week’s opponent, Wisconsin, was also defeated, falling at Northwestern.

That Badgers’ defeat might make a tough game even tougher this week for the Illini, who travel to Madison for an 11 a.m. Saturday match up with the Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin (3-2 overall, 0-1 in the conference) is a whopping 24.5-point favorite, but that didn’t sway Illinois coach Tim Beckman, whose Big Ten record is now 1-17.

“We’re excited about being able to play Wisconsin,” Beckman said in a teleconference earlier this week. “We’re 3-3 at the midway point (of the season). We have six opportunities left and we’re taking Wisconsin first.

“If we run the table, we end up with nine wins.”

Wisconsin and Illinois each had quarterback problems last week.

The Illini lost starter Wes Kunt, who suffered a fractured leg in the loss to the Boilermakers at Memorial Stadium. The Rochester native and sophomore redshirt from Oklahoma State had been one of the few bright spots for the Illini during the pre-Big Ten portion of the schedule. He is expected to miss four to six weeks and will be replaced by senior Reilly O’Toole.

O’Toole started the Illini’s other Big Ten loss at Nebraska in place of Lunt, who was recovering from a knee injury sustained against Texas State.

“Wes … was ready to come back into that football game and play (despite his injury),” Beckman said. “We again didn’t feel like it was probably right to have him in there. We don’t play people that aren’t ready. I hope people understand that. We’re in this game for the student-athlete.”

Saturday, a calf injury was suspected. But on Sunday, X-rays revealed a fracture.

“We know that we now have an opportunity for two of our quarterbacks, Reilly O’Toole, who started against Nebraska and had a fairly decent game until you take away a couple plays,” Beckman said. “Then you’ve got Aaron Bailey.

“Aaron is going to know that maybe … redshirting him is probably not going to be able to occur now because he has to help us win football games. That’s what Aaron Bailey wants to do for this program. Those are things that we have to get prepared for and get our guys ready for Saturday.”

Freshman wide receiver Mike Dudek had eight catches for 200 yards against Purdue. He’s another bright spot on offense, as well as running back Josh Ferguson.

Wisconsin quarterback Tanner McEvoy started Saturday against Northwestern, but after only completing four passes for 24 yards and an interception, he was replaced by Joel Stave.

McEvoy and Stave were 12-of-29 for 182 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. Both quarterbacks are expected to see action against the Fighting Illini.

But the Wisconsin passing attack isn’t what the Illini defense is bracing for - it’s the Badgers’ ground attack.

Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon, who ran for a career-high 259 yards last week in the loss at Northwestern, averages 174.2 yards rushing a game, tops in the country. His career rushing average is 8.14 yards a carry.

In short, Gordon is a load. And that doesn’t bode well for the Illini defense, which was shredded by Nebraska running back Ameer Andullah for 208 yards in the Sept. 27 Cornhuskers win in Lincoln.

“We haven’t stopped the run the last two weeks, or really the whole season,” Beckman said. “We`ve got to stop a really good running back. They’ve got the whole offensive line returning - it’s Wisconsin football.”

Purdue had 551 total yards, including 349 on the ground, against the Illini. It was the Boilermakers’ first conference victory since 2012.

“Everybody wants to win, Beckman said. “You want your players to be successful. You want your players to be able to feel what the win feels like, especially when it is a winnable football game. It didn’t happen (against Purdue), but that’s life. You have to bounce back. There is no such thing as quitting. There’s no such thing as lying down.”